Old furniture is often well-built, made from solid wood, and readily available. This makes painting old furniture to give it a new look an amazing DIY project for beginners. This step-by-step guide will show you exactly how to paint furniture easily.
In this guide, we will show you how to paint these two projects:
Supplies Needed
There are only a few supplies needed for this DIY project.
- Chalk paint (Amazon Link)
- Some sandpaper (Optional)
- Some paint brushes
You can use several different types of paint to paint furniture, but I highly recommend chalk paint. It gives a nice finish and can be applied without sanding.
Other types of paint, like acrylic paint or even oil paint, can also be used, but they usually require you to sand and apply a primer to the furniture before painting it. These extra steps are relatively easy but still require some extra work.
Step 1: Cleaning and Sanding (Optional)
This step is optional because you don´t need to sand the wood when you use chalk paint. But you should clean the furniture before applying any paint to ensure it can adhere properly.
So bring the furniture outside and sand it down until the old paint is gone or the varnish has become opaque. This may take some time but it is important to sand the furniture thoroughly to avoid paint peeling.
Before painting the furniture you also need to clean it of any dust and debris to ensure that the paint can adhere properly. For this, simply use some soapy water and a sponge to clean the wood.
Step 2: Painting
A few words on chalk paint before we begin.
- Chalk paint can be mixed with other chalk paints to get more color variations.
- They should not be mixed with other types of paint, however.
- Chalk paint should be stirred before it can be applied.
- There is no need to thin chalk paint.
- Chalk paint does not need a primer
If you want to paint your furniture with acrylic paint or oil paint then a primer should be applied to the wood before painting it. The primer will ensure that the paint adheres properly to the wood and does not peel or come off easily.
Also, make sure that you either paint outside or put some protective foil under the furniture before you start painting.
Choose a base coat for the chalk paint first. This is just the main color that you want to paint your furniture in. In my case, it was purple.
It may take more than one coat of paint to cover fully. In my case, it took me two coats of the base color and three coats of the detail color to cover fully.
If you have issues with brush marks showing on the surface of the paint then either use a softer paintbrush, apply the paint with a roller on larger surfaces, or use a little bit of water to slightly thin the paint.
I usually don´t have an issue with brush marks when using chalk paint.
Finally, I used a smaller brush to paint all of the details. This requires a steady hand and quite some patience.
Don´t worry if you made a mistake, you can easily fix it by painting over it with the paint. It may take two or three coats of paint to cover fully, however.
You can also use some masking tape to cover the parts that should not be painted if you think that approach is easier for you. The masking tape can simply be removed once you are done painting.
If you have issues with paint bleeding underneath the masking paint then you can simply paint the covered parts with the base color to “seal” the masking tape off and then paint the details with the detail color. This should prevent paint from bleeding underneath the masking tape.
Step 3: Sealing the Paint (Optional)
Finally, you might want to consider sealing the paint. A sealer will protect the paint from dirt, stains, and water.
I personally recommend sealing the paint only if it comes into contact with liquids a lot. In my case, the furniture will be in a bath underneath a sink. So I will seal it.
But if your furniture is not going to be exposed to water or other liquids often, then you can simply not seal it and it will be just fine. Chalk paint, especially, is really robust and doesn´t stain easily.
Another Way to Customize Furniture
We also customized this piece of furniture. It was in a very rough shape when we picked it up.
The only painted parts on this furniture are the magical beasts. Here is how we did it.
1. Prime the Surface
First, you need to apply a primer to the surface that you want to paint. You can use spray primer or ModPodge to prime the surface.
I used ModPodge for this instance. Mix the ModPodge with some water so that you can apply it easier.
You may need to apply two layers of ModPodge to cover the area properly.
2. Start Painting
Get a lot of reference images for the thing that you want to paint, or straight up copy a painting.
Use a graphite pen to draw the basic shapes, and then start painting with some acrylic paints.
Focus on the big shapes first and add details later.
3. Seal the Paint
Finally, you also need to seal the paint to protect it. In this instance, I highly recommend sealing the paint because it is prone to peeling otherwise.
I recommend acrylic spray sealer for sealing your paint, but you can also use matt varnish.
And here is the finished project.
